Magic players take ‘The Gathering’ to extremes at Machine Girl concert

Two die-hard Magic: The Gathering players took sweaty playing to new levels at a Machine Girl concert this past weekend. 

The best part of playing MTG, according to many within the Magic community, is the gathering. Whether it’s at a local game store, at a kitchen table, or in a hallway at a convention, playing in person has a vibe that can’t be captured through digital gameplay. Two players, Jared and leonardodecapitator, took the gathering part to the extreme last weekend during a Machine Girl concert in Hamden, Connecticut, playing a game of MTG on the floor of the pit. 

Posted on Twitter by arson, the video clip shows Matt Stephenson and Sean Kelly of Machine Girl riffing it out on stage while Jared and leonardodecapitator play with Zoo and Ghost Dad decks on the floor of the mosh pit. 

The MTG decks were brought by leonardodecapitator, who had been trying to get fans within the Machine Girl Discord to play a game in the pit prior to the Connecticut show, according to IGN. Despite not getting any takers, they still brought the decks and special proxies that were created for Stephenson. 

Both Stephenson and Kelly of Machine Girl are enthusiasts of  Magic: The Gathering, according to IGN and the band’s management. And it was in the merch line while showing off the cards that Jared met leonardodecapitator, which led to five games played on the pit floor during the Hamden, Connecticut show. 

For some players, gathering on the floor of a mosh pit is too dangerous. But that doesn’t mean concerts are off-limits, according to a Twitter user in the comments of arson’s original post. 

Machine Girl will continue their 2022-2023 tour with the next show taking place in Las Vegas on May 13, followed by the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain. The shows are after the next MTG set release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, providing fans with an opportunity to play meta decks at the upcoming concerts.